Hi Terry, sorry this is your welcome to Linux. Perhaps you could try the boot disks in either slink or potato on the ftp site. Perhaps the newer kernel will help.
All linux dists use the same kernel and mostly the same apps, it is the packaging and file placement that differs. It would be analogous to buying third party Sun machines. Still run SunOS, just might be setup slightly different. You could also try contacting the CDROM code maintainer and see if he could fix the Linux driver to work for you.